ABC Brisbane Radio Steve Austin’s speech at the Queensland launch of Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen Chalk & Cheese: A Fabrication (Hybrid Publishers: Melbourne, $24.99).

Ladies and gentlemen,

Tonight, we celebrate two great Australian storytellers — Emeritus Professor Ross Fitzgerald and comedy legend Ian McFadyen — and their latest joint creation, Chalk & Cheese: A Fabrication, published by Hybrid Publishers.

Now, the title is fitting — because if ever two men embodied “chalk and cheese,” it’s these two. Ross is a historian, political commentator, and prolific author — over forty books, countless newspaper columns, and more opinions than most of us have had hot dinners. He’s the academic who can quote Aristotle before breakfast — and probably has.

Ian, on the other hand, gave us The Comedy Company — the TV phenomenon that taught Australia how to laugh at itself. He’s a writer, actor, and producer with a PhD in punchlines. Where Ross dissects society, Ian makes it giggle. Together, they’re like if the ABC and Channel Ten had a love child.

Before Chalk & Cheese, the pair co-wrote the much-loved Grafton Everest series — political satire at its best, featuring a bumbling academic who somehow keeps stumbling into power. It was sharp, ridiculous, and frighteningly close to reality — like most Australian politics.

Now they’ve turned their gaze to ageing and friendship in Chalk & Cheese — the story of two old radio rivals who despise each other, yet end up in the same nursing home. It’s hilarious, a little sad, and utterly human. Think The Odd Couple with hearing aids and blood-pressure medication.

What makes their collaboration work is the blend: Ross brings the history, Ian brings the hysteria. One digs into politics; the other digs into punchlines. Ross writes for the mind; Ian writes for the funny bone. And somehow, in the mix, they both hit the heart.

Their personal differences? Let’s just say Ross is the sort who corrects your grammar mid-sentence, while Ian’s the one who makes you laugh so hard you forget what the sentence was. One thrives in footnotes; the other in punchlines. Yet together, they remind us that opposites don’t just attract — they co-author.

So here’s to Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen — proof that “chalk and cheese” can make one very tasty sandwich of satire, wit, and wisdom.

Thank you.

Steve Austin, ABC Brisbane Radio, AVID READER BOOKSHOP, West End, Brisbane, Sunday 2 November 2025.